Hackney Marshes Centre / Stanton Williams

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Text description provided by the architects. Stanton Williams was commissioned in 2008 to provide a new ‘Community Hub’ at the South Marsh. New changing rooms, plus facilities for spectators and the local community, will be housed in a welcoming, inclusive structure that recognises the special qualities of this place by bridging the boundary between the natural and artificial. It will connect not only with its immediate surroundings and the local community, but also the adjacent Olympic Park and the rest of the Lea Valley.The Marshes as they exist today are the product of a series of interventions in the natural environment, and in this respect they recall Cicero’s ‘second nature’ – a landscape shaped by human hands. The Marshes have long been known as the home of grassroots amateur football: the site holds the record for the greatest number
of pitches in one place, with over 900 matches played per year.